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148868292.Pdf The Sittings LUXEMBOURG, January lOth to 14th, 1977 It was British week here in Luxembourg this week with Roy Jenkins and Anthony Crosland claiming most of the attention. Roy Jenkins introduced his new Commission and Anthony Crosland inaugurated a new presidency of the Council, two events which secured the European Parliament more press and television coverage than it has ever had. Roy. Jenkins, who promised to be a 'European' President told Parliament he would act towards it as if it were already directly elected and that all European Commission proposals would be framed with an eye to its chances of majority support in the House. Tony Crosland, looking ahead, warned Parliament not to look for slick answers to Europe's problems. The priorities, as he sees it, are 'to improve EC sectoral policies, to defme and promote convergence in more meaningful terms, to work out a proper role for a directly elected Parliament, to expand yet further the Community's influence in the world and to encourage enlargement without doing damage to Community ideals' . .. Apart from which, it was a fairly quiet week up on the snow-covered Kirchberg. Fishing was put off till February and the farm price debate is still to come too. The big debates were on Southern Africa and unemployment. On Rhodesia, Mr Crosland said the Geneva Conference could not be reconvened on January 17th. .. On unemployment, Henk Vredeling said doing something to reduce it would be his .main priority. -1- THE FOCAL POINTS Jenkins will be 'European President' If our Community cannot be made to work, what can? Roy Jenkins, who was sworn in on Tuesday morning as President of the Commission, addressed Parliament at 3.00 p.m. that afternoon. The following are highlights from his 40-minute speech: On his Presidency: 'I do not intend to be a British President. I intend to be a European President.' On the Community: 'The Community is not a betting-shop or a lottery stall into which one takes one's stakes and hopes to come away with more than one went in, but knowing always that the pool is fixed, that nothing can be created therein, and that a gain can therefore only be at the expense of another Member's loss.' On the Commission: 'The Commission should be a political rather than a technocratic body.' 'The Commission must also work most closely with the Parliament. No doubt we shall have disputes, but we are on the same side.' 'We are a coalition Commission, as is wholly right, at least at the present stage of development. I shall therefore need to be a coalition rather than a partisan President. I shall be a partisan only for the unity of Europe.' On direct elections: 'For the target date to be missed would be a major setback. The responsibility on any country which impeded this development would be heavy and damaging.' On the Community Funds: 'There has been too great a tendency to see the various Community funds in isolation one from the other. The policy in relation to them should be seen and coordinated as a whole.' On consumer protection: 'The Community is designed to protect and advance the interests of all its citizens. Policies to safeguard the producer need to be balanced by policies to safeguard the consumer.' -2- On the CAP: 'In the difficult times which lie ahead, the Commission must work to maintain and improve the Common Agricultural Policy. But I believe we can best do this by showing clearly that it can serve the common good in providing stable supplies of food at reasonable prices as well as stable markets for an efficient European agricultural system.' On the past: 'The previous Commission under the dedicated leadership of Francyois-Xavier Ortoli, has had to operate for three quarters of its mandate under the pall of the most discouraging economic weather which we have known for a generation. In this climate they have brilliantly defended the citadel.' On the future: 'I do not yet feel any benign stirring of the breezes of spring. But what I do feel is that there comes a time when you have to break out of the citadel or wither within it. That time is now very close upon us.' 'Yet I believe that our duty today is not to invoke history, but to start once again to make it: not to praise famous men by sitting idly on the scaffolding of the half-finished building and drinking toasts to those who laid the foundations so well. The best tribute we can pay to them is not to praise them but to emulate them, to get on with our job and add at least another storey to the building. We cannot live indefinitely on the triumphs of half a generation ago.' On economic divergences: 'We must of course endeavour to end the growing divergence of the economies of the Member States. This cannot be done overnight or by simple decree. And it certainly cannot and should not be done by asking the strong to become less strong and less effectively managed. It is no part of our business to promote an equality of weakness. Common disciplines and learning from success are an essential part of the philosophy of convergence. But on this basis we must, like any civilised community, help the weaker members. This is in the interests of the strong as well as the weak, for if the weak were to fall by the wayside an essential part of the foundation of unity on which the strong have built their prosperity would be destroyed. Nor should we be too surprised that divergencies have arisen. We would have been singularly lucky if they had not. What greater unity in the world, from the Roman Empire to the United States of America, would ever have been created if divergencies were regarded as a recipe for despair? The test is how we face them. Help for ,. the weaker members, provided they are also prepared to help themselves, is one of the distinguishing signs of the existence of a community. It applies to the community of the family. It applies to the community of the state. And it must -3- apply to our Community of European nations. The larger the Community, the easier it is for the weaker areas to be neglected. We cannot do this without ultimately destroying the Community.' Mr Jenkins ended by expressing his absolute conviction that the Community was more than a convenience for Europe, it was fundamental and essential for mankind as a whole. 'If our Community cannot be made to work, what can? If we, among the richest and certainly among the most favoured and talented of the populations of the globe, cannot learn to work together, what prospect is there for humanity? Or for a decent civilised life for ordinary men and women?' Spokesmen for Parliament's six political groups praised Mr Jenkins's statement and promised their support for his efforts. The Socialists, said Ludwig Fellennaier (Ge ), would watch the Commission's efforts in the social field - particularly regarding unemployment - with special interest. Alfred Bertrand (Be), for the Christian Democrats, queried Mr jenkins's assertion that the new Commission was a proper 'coalition' - he referred to one major country whose two Commissioners both came from the Government parties. Liberal leader Jean Durieux (Fr), hoped that Mr Jenkins would help to make Britain more European, rather than vice-versa. For the European Progressive Democrats, Brian Lenihan (Ir) stressed the need for the Commission to devote more attention to an effective information policy - particularly in view of direct elections. Sir Peter Kirk (Br), Conservative chairman, said his group would give its full backing to the new Commission, 'bar the odd censure motion.' He saw the Commission's immediate task in halting the growing economic divergence and getting convergence under way. For the Communists, Carlo Alberto· Galluzzi (It) pointed to the large gap between the objectives set down in the Treaty and the reality of Community progress. Winifred Ewing (Br, In d), speaking as an independent member, praised Mr Jenkins for the consistency of his support for the European ideal, domestic political disadvantages notwithstanding. Crosland becomes Council President The second major political address of the week was delivered by British Foreign Secretary and new President of the Council of Ministers, Anthony Crosland, who made what speakers in the subsequent debate described as a 'pragmatic' statement to the House. -4- The following are exerpts from his speech: On the Community s achievements: 'I do not for a moment deny a certain loss of direction and a faltering sense of purpose - and I shall discuss later the reasons for this - I yet take a more robust and hopeful view than the pessimists when I consider the Community's achievements.' 'Now the facts are incontrovertible; but the interpretation is not. The apocalyptic view of the extreme pessimists suggests a failure by the Community to achieve realistic and attainable goals. This is not a fair picture.' 'The concentrated battle against recession and unemployment and their attendant social evils - against the worst economic crisis since the 1930s -has in the last three years sapped the energies of Member States : energies which might otherwise have been directed towards solving the Community's internal problems.' On his hopes: 'Our task is therefore to draw together into a coherent shape the various threads of the Community's development so far; to recognize realistically its set-backs or excessive ambitions, but also its true achievements and the solid foundation that these have laid; and to establish on this basis a sense of priorities and strategic direction that will serve us, not simply in the next six months, but in the years ahead.
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